Charity regulator opens investigation into charity with no recorded trustees
The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has opened a statutory inquiry into The Mohiuddin Trust (1105585) to look into concerns over potential misconduct and mismanagement. The inquiry was opened on 5 December 2018.
The charity’s objects include the relief of poverty and the advancement of education and training for the public benefit.
The charity, which had previously been subject to a statutory inquiry, is again being investigated by the Commission.
In August 2017, the Commission wrote to the charity setting out that it wished to meet with the charity’s trustees following a review of the charity’s accounts which identified statements in its auditor’s report for year ending 31 March 2016 which indicated a financial risk to the charity.
Upon writing to the trustees to organise a meeting, it soon became apparent that there was an ongoing internal dispute between competing parties claiming to be the charity’s trustees and, as a result, it was unclear whether the charity had any validly appointed trustees. The Commission advised the parties to the dispute that they were required to mediate or engage in dispute resolution with each other to address the substantive issues in the dispute.
However the competing parties have failed to do so satisfactorily and the Commission is concerned that the dispute is now impacting upon the day-to-day running of the charity- there are indications of mismanagement by those in control of the charity.
As a result of these regulatory concerns and failure to comply with regulatory advice and guidance provided, the Commission has opened a statutory inquiry to look at:
- the ongoing dispute and how to regularise the concern that charity has no validly appointed trustees
- whether those in control of the charity have properly exercised their legal duties and responsibilities under charity law in the administration of the charity
- the financial management of the charity
- whether there has been misconduct and/or mismanagement but those in control of the charity
It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.
